


Right

by Thechargingsky



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Butterflies, Coming Out, First Meeting, M/M, Season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 03:46:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17890895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thechargingsky/pseuds/Thechargingsky
Summary: Patrick finally realized why it never felt right with her.





	Right

Patrick never knew what _right_ felt like. In high school, he would see his family and friends interact with their significant others and hoped that one day he would feel that rightness too. Then he met Rachel and just kind of fell into it with her. He liked her, sure, and maybe even loved her a little, but there was never that spark, never those butterflies. He wasn’t reminded of her in songs, even when he was plucking on his guitar. He felt guilty because she made him mix CD’s and playlists, expressing her feelings. He couldn’t, wouldn’t do the same. It never felt truly genuine.

His family loved her. Always with a wink and a nudge, asking when they were getting married. Patrick would nervously laugh it off, belatedly noticing Rachel’s lingering stare and the sadness in her eyes. Yeah, they broke up and got back together a few times, usually over arguments that seemed petty at the surface, neither one wanting to acknowledge the underlying tension that she so obviously loved him more than he did her. They would talk, shed some tears and stop speaking for a week, a month at most. Inevitably his phone would buzz, indicating a text message from her, either in gibberish or a non-sequitur. She would claim a buttdial from the former and an “ _oops wrong person!_ ” from the latter, but Patrick knew better, knew that this was part of their dance and he would always text her back, and once again, they would fall back into it.

Somewhere in between the fourth and fifth breakup, he proposed to her with a nice ring and a promise that this time it was different. After all, this is what _right_ was supposed to feel like, right? And even if it wasn’t right, it was right enough.

The sex was perfectly fine.  He thought she was smart and funny and pretty, but deep down he also was afraid of exploring those “what if’s” spiraling in his head that maybe she wasn’t right, maybe no woman would ever be right. Patrick would bury those thoughts because he was comfortable with Rachel. He knew her and she knew him. They had history. After all, they’d been together since high school. Maybe this was just how his life is going to be. Not everyone can experience toe curling passion, those butterflies that leave you lightheaded. Maybe it wasn’t red-hot, but it was warm, although bordering on tepid most days. But that’s what happens when you’ve been with someone a long time, he rationalized.

 

Then they broke up again. This time it felt more real. Maybe it’s because she threw her ring at him. Maybe it’s because he realized that he’s in his early fucking thirties and hasn’t truly been living. So Patrick, always dependable and consistent Patrick, threw caution into the wind. He packed his trunk with some clothes and books, carefully put his guitar in the backseat and drove off, leaving everything and everyone behind. Once on the road, he realized that for the first time in his life, he didn't have a contingency plan. So while stopped at a rest stop, he found a job posting online from someone looking for help with filing local business licenses and other paperwork. He called the phone number, did a quick interview, and before he knew it, he had a job and a room to rent. Patrick accepted and while driving to this new town, his fresh start (what type of place was called Schitt’s Creek anyways?), he started thinking about finding that possible _right_ and hopefully he would find him there.

As soon as that word “him” entered his mind, Patrick almost slammed on the brakes, admitting to himself for the first time that maybe he had been looking for _right_ in the entirely wrong gender all together.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind, full of meeting new people, getting to know his new boss and roommate (“Ray could _talk”_ , Patrick thought). He was so busy getting the lay of the land and the ins and outs of his new job that he didn’t have time to even think about that _right_. Then one day Ray handed him paperwork from a David Rose who had just leased the General Store space. That name rang a bell, but he didn’t put much thought into it.

Hours later, David appeared, handing Patrick a ticket number and looking thoroughly bemused. David Rose looked unlike anyone Patrick had ever laid his eyes on and he couldn't name a time in which he’d ever been drawn to anyone else the way he was drawn to David. And just then, Patrick felt his stomach begin to flutter with those elusive butterflies he had been chasing for so long with Rachel. This, he thought to himself, is the _right_ everyone had been talking about for all those years.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in 13 years...but I love this ship. And love Patrick.  
> This isn't beta'd...I wrote it this morning


End file.
